Not an official WalkUP Roslindale Event, but very good to see this starting: Group bike ride into City Hall from Roslindale Square with Mayor Wu – 8 am this Thursday, 11 August 2022

Michelle takes a selfie with members of the mayor’s BPD detail team

[Photo credit @wutrain.]

For the first of what we hope will be many community group bike rides with Mayor Wu to come, Adams Park in Roslindale Square will be the starting point on this coming Thursday morning, 11 August 2022, at 8 am. This ride is open to everyone, all ages and types of riders of bicycles. Other key details:

  1. There will be no set agenda; just a bike ride with the mayor to get from Roslindale into downtown.
  2. There’s a sign up sheet available here, so we can gauge numbers and plan accordingly.
  3. In words, the route will run from Adams Park (Cummins/Washington side) in Roslindale Square up Washington Street to Forest Hills, then take the Southwest Corridor Bike Path to Ruggles, then Columbus Avenue, left on Dartmouth Street, right on Boylston Street, and finally a left back onto Washington Street and into the southern end of City Hall Plaza.
  4. A link to a graphical depiction of the route can be found here.
  5. We expect numbers sufficient enough to need ride marshals to keep us all together safely, so keep an eye out, and try to arrive by 7:45 am if possible to help the organizers get organized.
  6. Follow this twitter thread for more updates as they become available.

Thanks and hope to see you there!

More on Roslindale Bus Improvements

Many of you no doubt have noticed the extensive road/sidewalk construction in progress on Poplar Street by Adams Park. This project is one of several changes underway to improve bus service through Roslindale Square. If you’re interested in better understanding what’s going on, check out these two MBTA flyers:

The change with the most immediate impact is that the Route 30 outbound bus no longer needs to go all the way around Roslindale Square but instead will just go down Poplar Street before turning onto Washington Street briefly and then on to Cummins Highway. Prior to being moved up, the bus stop on Poplar Street was closer to Corinth Street (past the fork), making it impossible to turn left onto Washington Street. The new design will allow the bus to turn left at the fork and thus avoid an unnecessary trip around the entire square.

Sad Crosswalks

We envision a sea change for pedestrian safety in and around Roslindale: traffic calming, narrower automobile travel laneswoonerfs, pedestrianized-street parties, reliable enforcement of speed limits, curb extensions, chokers, road diets, pedestrian zones, chicanes–they should all be in the mix and implemented where appropriate. We should be leading, not trailing, in rolling out these best practices, because we are ideally situated to be the most walkable neighborhood in Boston. We share the dream of Vision Zero and need to hold the City’s feet to the fire to make it real.

None of these changes are likely to come quickly, though. In our neighborhood, the streets surrounding Adams Park are especially bad but also have fantastic potential. While we’re putting in the long-term work to achieve Vision Zero, we should, in the meantime, at least get some crosswalks that are not an embarrassment to the community. Check out these two recent photos from the already problematically-wide intersection at Poplar, Washington, and Corinth. Roslindale deserves better.

Poplar Crosswalk at Washington Street
Poplar Crosswalk at Washington Street
Washington Street Crosswalk to Public Library
Washington Street Crosswalk to Public Library

 

Rozzie Bike Corral Meeting Rescheduled to June 24

Just a quick note: the bike corral meeting that had been set for tomorrow (Wednesday 6/10) has been postponed to Wednesday, June 24, 2015, 6pm-7pm, at the Roslindale Community Center (6 Cummins Highway). We’ll post more details/thoughts regarding the proposal closer to the date.

Bike Corral Notice
Official Bike Corral Notice from the City

Rozzie Bike Corral Meeting June 10

In honor of Roslindale hero Steve Gag, Roslindale Village Main Streets supporters raised several thousands dollars to kick off a campaign to install a bike corral in Rozzie Square. The proposal is to replace one car parking space with ten bike spaces (note the ratio!). This investment in infrastructure is important both for the direct utility it brings and for the message it sends–better bike and ped infrastructure changes mindsets, bringing people out on foot and bike, resulting in a virtuous self-reinforcing circle.

The City of Boston is hosting a public meeting on June 10, 6pm-7pm, at the Roslindale Community Center, to present the city’s plan. If you share the WalkUP vision, come to learn more about the project and support this step in the right direction.